Thursday, November 18, 2010

Watching something funny is the quickest way to lower your blood pressure. Research shows that laughter and humor could help lower systolic blood pressure in just 20 minutes. And if you tickle your funny bone often, you could make your Real Age as much as 8 years younger.

In a small study, participants chose a 20-minute humorous video clip to watch. They also watched 20 minutes of a serious war movie. Then, researchers measured the participants' blood pressure.

Watching funny videos not only lowered people's blood pressure but lowered their cholesterol levels, too. On the other hand, the serious war movie had no effect.

The effect of Laughter on Stress hormonesis the reason for lowering blood pressure. When your funny bone is tickled, it reduces levels of stress hormones related to climbing blood pressure. And as an extra added bonus, laughing is good for your immune system, too. Other ways to keep your blood pressure under control includes: